Fastening device



Patented Aug. 17, 1926,

JINIDRICI-I WALDES, 0F FRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

IASTENING DEVICE.

Application filed December 23, 1924 Serial No. ?,595

My invention relates to fastening devices of the type used in `Igarments and the like and commonly referred to as hooks and eyes and has to do with the hook members thereof. Existing forms of such hook members have the objectionfthat, when placed under a strain, they permit gaping of the garment or Yits equivalent, thus not only creating an undesirable appearance but also bringing about a condition uncomfortable to the wearer. This condition is due primarily to the fact that the hook member of the fastening device does not lie flat on the material with which it is connected, `when the aforesaid strains occ-ur, but swings on the means whereby it is secured to said Vmaterial. The present invention has for its object to overcome these objectionable features and to provide a fastening Ldevice in which the hook is constructed in a. novel manner so as to lie flat on the material with which the device is connected and to prevent gaping and discomfort even when placed under strains such as are incidental to the wearing of a garment Aor its equivaient. Gther more specific objects will ap.- pear from the description hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an Aexample of the invention without defining its limits, Fi'g. 1 shows a garment with the novel fastening device incorporated therein; Fig. 2 is a view showing a commercial form of the device; Fig. 3

is an enlarged front view of the improved hook; and Fig. 4e is a -similar rear view showing a rpreferred method of fixing the hook in place.

As shownin Figs. 2 and 3 the hook comprises the usual hook element 10 which may be of any conventional form and comprises an integral part 11; the latter includes two members 12 and 13 which preferably terminate in eyelets 14 and 15 respectively for the accommodation of rivets 16, threads, or other means whereby the fastener is secured in place. Heretofore in all hook and eye elements, the arrangement of the eyelets for the accommodation of the penetrating rivets or threads has been symmetrical and such that the swinging axis of the` element extended at some point or other at. right angles to the major axis of the fastener element. The result was that when the hooks and eyes itself and with vrespect to the `proximately in of the main section were associated in co-operating relation and the eye was disassociated from the hook, the tendency to .lift the hook from the fabric and to form a .gap between the hook and the fabric was accentuated by this right angled arrangement of the swinging line. Then however, yas in my new device, the eyelets ,are so arranged as to compel a location of the swinging axis diagonally of the fastener axis, the lifting of the hook from the fabric is resisted while at the same time such rocking movements as may ensue will tend to ease the action in eecting disassociation between the hook and eye as the latter rides past the conventional hump of the hook. This in turn again counteracts the formation of a gap. The asymmetric relation of the eyelets should therefore be such as to assure a sw'ingingaxis, which instead of being at right angles to the fastener as heretofore, shall be diagonal to or approximate the major extent or axis of the fastener element. In the specific embodiment of the invention as illustratedin the drawings, and without restriction to that particular embodiment, the arrangement is suoli that the eyelet 14 is located at the conventional or even Va greater distance from the bend a, of the hook while the eyelet -15 is located in close proximity to and approximately in line with said bend a. This result-may `be secured in a variety of ways, For instance, as shown in the drawing, the one member 12 lis of the customary or greater length to position the eyelet 14 at a distance from the 'bend a while the other member 13 extends backward upon member 12 and is so proportioned and arranged that its eyelet 15 is in close proximity to and apline with the Ybend a of the hook 10. As shown in Figs; 2 and 3 the member 13 projects atan inclination to one side. of the hook 10 and toward the bend a thereof, the eyelet 15 being thus brought into close proximity to said bend.

In the preferred form, the fastener is constructed in one piece and comprises a continuous piece of material such as wire bent into the desired shape.

When in actual use, for instance as fastening devices for closing a garment as indicated in Fig. 1, the hooks may be secured in their intended locations by means of the rivets 16 or their equivalent directly to the garment materal; in the preferred arrangement, however, the hooks are fastened at proper distances apart 'upon tapes 17 or their equivalent which are then sewed in place in the garment or its equivalent. To improve the efliciency of the fastening device and to reduce to a minimum the possibility of tearing out of the hook from the fabric to which it is secured, twin rivets 16 connected in the form of a unit. as indicated at 16a may be used to rivet the hooks in place. The combined hoolrs and the tape represent a desirable form in which the fasteners may be furnished to the user, so that a series of such hooks may be readily incorporated in a garment 20 by simply sewing an equipped tape 17 in place therein; it. will. of course be understood that cooperating eyes 18 preferably also mounted upon a suitable tape 19 are secured in the garment at the proper point. Obviously the fastening devices may be made commercially available in other ways than set forth above.

It will be noted that the eyelets 14 and 15 and consequently the rivets 16 or equivalent fastening means are in asymmetric relation with respect to the body of the fastener element, for instance as shown in the illustrated example, by being located in line with each other on an imaginary line which lies diagonally across the length of the tape 17 and across the direction of pull ordinarily exerted upon the bend a when the hook is in use. This location of the eyelets 14 and 15 with respect to the bend a of the hoo-k element 10 and the consequent location of the rivets 16 or their equivalent securing means with respect. to said bend a causes swinging movements of the fastener on said rivets 16 or their equivalent relatively to the material to which it is attached to be resisted as here inbefore set forth. In other words, by locating the securing devices whereby the fastener is fixed in place, in the manner previously described, the fastener will lie flat upon the material or tape and will remain substantially so even under such strains as may occur during the wearing of a garment. That is to say, in all the forms of the novel hook, the eyelets 14 and 15 and the members 12 and 13 of which they form a part, are so arranged and constructed as to provide a base, as it were, whereby the hook element 10 is secured upon the material or tape 17 in a manner to lie flat thereon even when suojected to pulling strains exerted upon the hook element 10 at the bend a thereof. The novel arrangement and construction of the hooks permits them, if desired, to be secured in place on the aforesaid tape 17 in close proximity to an edge thereof and thus, when the tape with its hooks, is in place inthe garment, still further reduces the tendency the latter to gap under strain.

I claim :h

In a hook fastener of the hook and eye type which comprises an upper, horizontally extending, straight bill portion and a lower straight shank portion spaced below said bill in parallelism therewith, an end portion connecting said bill and shanlr portions at the front end of said fastener and forming the closed end of the hook, and a. pair of eyelets having their centers located on la line extending obliquely to the central longitudinal axis of said bill portion, one of said eyelets being located at the rear end of said shank portion immediately adjacent to the rear end of said bill portion and the other of said eyelets being located on one side of the bill portion, that improvement which comprises the feature of having the last-named eyelet located immediately adjacent to the closed end of said bool; with its front bounding surface located in substantially the same vertical plane as the front bounding surface of said end portion and extending laterally to one side of said bill portion far enough to expose the whole of the aperture of the eyelet and a complete annulus of the upper surface of the wire which surrounds said aperture, whereby automatically applied fastening elements for securing said hook to a fabric may be passed through said aperture and fabric and seated on said annulus in a direction perpendicular to the hook, without encountering the bill as an obstruction, and whereby also the holdingeffect of said fastening element is effective at. the forwardmost point of contact between the hook and fabric.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. i

JINDRICH VVALDES.l 

